Chutes and Ladders
by mrshmllw
Summary: Legends and myths often portray Fate as an ancient man playing chess with living beings, treating them as nothing but pawns. But after an eternity, one grows tired of chess. The game usually ends with everyone dead anyway. Thus, Fate had decided to play a new game. Chutes and Ladders. With a simple roll of the die, Luna Lovegood stepped onto a chute and was flung back in time.
1. Chapter 1

**I originally wrote this story when I was 14. Now, 5 years later, I found it again and decided, what the hell, might as well publish it. I cleaned up my most obvious spelling mistakes.. but be warned, the plot is still rather childish. **

**Preface.**

He lay silently, listening to the whoosh as his breath passed between his slightly parted lips. His gazed was blurry and unfocused, vaguely aimed at the shelf above his small cot inside his cupboard. A spider tickled the small hairs on his leg as it walked down towards his foot.

Harry's mind was magnificently blank, only slightly aware of the mild stinging sensation on his cheek where a bruise was just starting to show. A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead, clinging briefly to a lightning shaped scar partly hidden by his messy black hair. The tiny droplet got stuck in his eyelashes and he blinked it away as his eye started to feel irritated. Bracing himself using his arms, Harry pushed himself up slightly and peaked through the little ventilation flap on the door. He listened intently. When he had assured himself that his so called family was asleep, he let himself flop down on his back again.

As a young child, Harry had not yet rid himself of his inability to sit still for long periods of time, a trait that was mandatory if one wished to live a peaceful life at the Dursleys'. So, to amuse and distract himself, Harry had started passing time in his cupboard by playing make-believe and practising magic.

One night, when he was five years old, Harry had imagined himself a superhero and had tried to make an object move without touching it. To save a city in flames from an evil army of spiders, it had been of utmost importance for Harry - trapped in a giant spiders web - to move his glass of water from the highest shelf in the cupboard and use it to put out the fire. So intent had Harry been on his daydream, that it wasn't until he felt the water spill all over himself that he realized he had actually successfully moved the glass. Ever since, Harry would spend hours at night testing and perfecting his new found skill.

The Dursleys were very meticulous about never ever allowing Dudley or Harry to see any kind of telly program even remotely referring to or mentioning magic. This did not have the desired effect though, as it had only served to make Harry even more fascinated by such things when he saw them on the telly over at Mrs Figg's house. Harry, being a very open minded child, did not immediately see why such things should be impossible. Hadn't he himself been able to do things that could be considered abnormal?

There were several examples of instances where Harry had done extraordinary things. He had once, for example, found himself suddenly on a roof when he had been trying to escape Dudley and his gang. Furthermore, most bruises and cuts seemed to heal much faster for him than for other children. Thus, it was easy for Harry to believe in magic.

Now ten years old, Harry had mastered the art of sitting still and silent without getting scolded by his Aunt or Uncle. But he still loved the tingling feeling he experienced every time he did "magic tricks". At first, moving inanimate objects had been very difficult and his success was sporadic. But after years of practicing, he could do it easily.

And so today, as he lay in his cupboard convinced that his relatives were asleep, Harry decided to play. He focused his gaze and a lonely sock and willed it to move. A familiar tingling sensation crept up his spine and tickled his nose as he felt it settle in his eyes. The instinct to blink was strong, but he ignored it as he focused even more intently the sock. Slowly, and with what seemed like great reluctance, the sock lifted of the floor and rose upwards. Harry felt the tingling sensation leave his eyes and creep down his right arm were it seemed to build up as if clogged. He recognized this as the signal that his fun was about to end. When the tingling feeling was completely gone from his eyes the sock fell to the ground.

Harry sighed and peered closely at his right arm. All the little hairs on it were raised as if he had rubbed them with a balloon, as he had seen Dudley and his friends do on Dudley's eleventh birthday. His own eleventh birthday was in a week or two, but Harry doubted he would get to play with any balloons. He shook his arm to get rid of the tingling feeling and then snuggled in under his covers, falling asleep.

Fate watched the boy. He was gifted, modest, kind and noble. It didn't matter what time line or what reality Fate looked to, Harry Potter was always the same. It was boring.

Life was not exciting without pandemonium. It was just dull and predictable.

Legends and myths often portray Fate as an ancient man playing chess with living beings, treating them as nothing but pawns. That is what Fate had been, at first. But after an eternity, one grows tired of chess. The game usually ends with everyone dead anyway. Chess is organized, unsurprising and strict. How does one cause chaos within a game that has such rigid rules? You can't. It's impossible.

Thus, Fate had decided to play a new game. Chutes and Ladders. Fate turned away from the reality with the young sleeping boy and focused on another boring and old chess game. He picked up the pawns and moved them to his new playing board. With a simple roll of the die, Luna Lovegood stepped onto a chute and was flung back in time.

Fate smiled and redirected his focus onto other games, content with the fact that he had thoroughly messed up the natural flow of things.


	2. The lemon law

**The lemon law.**

The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive. Most of the inhabitants were draped sleepily over comfortable chairs in well air-conditioned sitting rooms with glasses of cold water, fanning themselves with various magazines and bemoaning the sun for it's complete lack of mercy.

This was not the case for a particularly lanky kid with a lightning shaped scar on his forehead. He was sleeping quite soundly inside a cupboard under a staircase, exhausted after a long grueling afternoon spent weeding the garden in the blazing heat. His sleep was, however, interrupted by the sound of a loud crack, as if someone had broken a bunch of twigs all at once or, in this case, the sound made by someone apparating.

A blond woman, who looked to be in her early twenties, had just appeared quite suddenly in the small space. She had a slight confused aura about her and her appearance was frazzled. The noise made Harry Potter stir, and after a moment he gazed blearily into the glazed eyes of the mysterious woman and slowly sat up. "Hello" Harry said, rubbing his eyes sleepily, still not entirely awake.

The women watched as Harry yawned and stretched before he abruptly froze his movements, shook his head quickly and then stared at her suddenly wide awake. "Um, not to be rude or anything, but who are you and what are you doing in my cupboard?" Harry finally asked.

There was a beat of silence, and then, "I am a figment of your imagination. You are going mad." The woman flapped her arms a bit and wiggled her ears.

Harry blinked.

"Sorry, I've always wanted to do that to someone. My name is Luna Lovegood." The woman said, the corners of her mouth twitching. Her voice was light and airy and her gaze was slightly unfocused.

"So… I'm not going mad?" Harry stated, although it came out a bit more like a question.

Luna peered at the young boy in front of her curiously. "I don't think so. You shouldn't though. I've gone mad once or twice, it was very relaxing… but the world needs you to stay sane. I should imagine it would be very hard to defeat Voldemort if one thought one was a lemon."

"A lemon?" Harry asked. He was starting to feel very overwhelmed.

"Well, one would be mad to think one was a lemon, unless you actually_ are_ a lemon of course. But I'm not sure lemons go around thinking about the fact that they are lemons and a lemon certainly isn't going to try and defeat Voldemort. Then again, it would be more prudent to think one was a cucumber since they are always so cool and collected, or so the saying goes. Although, how do we know that cucumbers are always cool and collected? They could very well be as prone to panic attacks as any other vegetable."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but then he just sighed and closed it again. Luna smiled. "How old are you now?"

Harry blinked. "I just turned eleven."

"Happy belated Birthday! So I suppose you've met Hagrid then?"

Harry nodded assuming that the woman- Luna… er something… Lovewood?- was a friend of Hagrid's . "What did you say about me defeating Voldemort?"

Luna's expression darkened. "Voldemort is the man who gave you that scar."

Harry touched his forehead lightly. "I know. You say his name."

Luna smiled benignly. "Fear of a name only increases fear of the object itself."

"Why are you here?" Harry asked, scratching his nose.

"Do you like stories Harry?" Luna asked. Harry frowned, whoever this Luna person was, she truly sucked at answering questions.

"Yes, I suppose. But how do you know my name? I never told you what it was."

Luna smiled. "I already know your name Harry James Potter. And the story I'm about to tell you is about you and your life." She sat down next to Harry in his bed throwing her arm around his thin shoulders. He stiffened, not used to forms of comfort, but Luna either did not notice or ignored his reaction.

"Once upon a time there was an orphan named Tom Riddle. Tom could do things other children couldn't. He could make people hurt if he wanted, and he could talk to snakes." Harry shifted nervously thinking of a certain boa constrictor. "People liked Tom, he had a natural charm that people were drawn to." Luna turned her head and coughed before continuing her story. "During the summer before Tom turned eleven a man visited him and told him about a school called Hogwarts. The man, Dumbledore, was a teacher there and wanted Tom to attend the school." Luna squeezed Harry's shoulders. "At Hogwarts Tom learned lots of things. He never gained any friends, but he had followers, people who were in awe of his skill and charm. Tom quite bitter and hated the muggle world with a passion. As he grew older, he also grew darker and colder. Eventually he changed his name to Voldemort. Very few dare speak his new name. Tom killed lots of people, steadily gaining power and followers. There was a war. In the middle of this war, Tom learned about a prophecy concerning him and someone with the power to defeat him. Tom assumed it referred to you and so he went after your family. Your mother sacrificed her life for you and thus she provided you with a protection. Her love for you made it so that you couldn't be touched. Tom, who knows very little about love, did not stop to consider this before trying to blast you into little pieces and thus he was destroyed. You, Harry Potter, are also known as The-Boy-Who-Lived and you are the only known survivor of the killing curse." Luna stopped talking. She was breathing heavily. "This is not common knowledge Harry. People only know that you survived the curse, not why. Be careful about who you trust with this information."

"You seem to know a lot about this." Harry commented suspiciously.

Luna smiled widely. "I know because you told me, before I was rudely hurled back in time."

"Time travel?"

"In your reality, I am ten years old and slightly nutters if I remember correctly. In my reality, or well… in my former reality, I was twenty-one and you were twenty-two years old. You'd defeated Voldemort at the age of eighteen and it was like a huge weight had been lifted off your shoulders. But you were stubbornly hanging on to your guilt and you pushed people away. You were lost, Harry, but you would have figured it out eventually. You have always been strong. But apparently…" Luna huffed and glared upwards. "…Fate is an impatient fellow. Or maybe he was just bored. I don't know. A lot of people died in the war though." Luna tapped her chin thinking. "Maybe… since I'm here anyway… we could try to fix that." She smiled brilliantly.

Harry, who felt quite ridiculously confused, simply nodded absentmindedly.

"You're taking this remarkably well." Luna said. "So well, in fact, that I am beginning to think that you don't believe me."

Harry scratched his nose. "I do believe you. I would know if you were lying." Luna looked surprised for a minute before frowning.

"I didn't know you learnt how to do that this early."

Harry wasn't sure what she meant by that so he didn't comment. "Why did I feel guilty? Did people die because of me?"

Luna looked sad. "You aren't even eleven yet, so I wouldn't burden you with horrors from the future. That would be cruel. But I can assure you that you never hurt anyone innocent."

Harry furrowed his brow. "I'm not a baby!"

Luna smiled. "No Harry, even in your first year at Hogwarts you showed courage that went beyond most adults. But at eleven you are not ready to shoulder what you could barely cope with at twenty-two. I will not be responsible for crushing your spirit."

Harry paled. "That bad?"

Luna nodded solemnly. "But never lose hope. Light can always be found even in the darkest of times."

Dumbledore might have been maddeningly manipulative, but his motivational sayings were very handy, Luna mused.

"I'm not sure what I should do." Luna commented after a moments pause.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Well, I seem to have traveled back in time. I don't know why, or how, or even how permanent it is. Will I return to my time? If so, when? Will my time be different if I change things in this time? I don't know very much about time travel and I have no real plan of action."

Harry ran a hand through his hair anxiously. "Well, um, I'd offer to let your stay here for as long as you're in.. this time… but my relatives aren't really crazy about magic, or guests, and I'm fairly certain that would apply to time travelers as well."

Luna smiled. "Oh that's fine Harry. Thanks anyway."

Harry looked around the room awkwardly. "So, how did you say you knew me again?"

Luna ignored his question, pondering her situation further. After a few minutes she smiled. "I know what I'm going to do now. Do you trust me?"

Harry seemed to think for a bit, gazing steadily at Luna. She was startled by the astuteness she saw in his gaze, this was too much like the older Harry for her liking. It felt like he was looking into her very soul. Then he blinked, breaking eye contact.

"Yes, I trust you." Harry said. Luna beamed.

"Now I just have to figure out how to help you." She said.

Harry frowned. "Help me with what?"

"Surviving." Luna said dreamily. Harry paled.

Aunt Petunia chose that moment to start pounding on his door, interrupting their conversation. "Get up!"

Harry sighed and Luna patted his back reassuringly.

"Harry before you go, look into my eyes again."

Harry did as he was told but was surprised to see that Luna's eyes were no longer the grey color they had been earlier, but that they were now swirling orbs of silver. Harry felt himself get lost in the swirls and soon enough his expression turned vacant.

Luna smirked.

"I have hypnotized you Harry. You will believe that this conversation was a weird dream and it will not affect anything you do or say up until our next chat. In the mean time, I have things to sort out. When I snap my fingers you will wake from your slumber."

**-ovo-**

Harry had just returned to his cupboard under the stairs, teary-eyed and rubbing a red mark on his cheek that Uncle Vernon had given him after he dropped a mug of hot tea on Vernon's lap, when he saw Luna sitting on his bed. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it again as he lost himself in Luna's silver swirls. "You will remember our last conversation." Luna said and snapped her fingers, her eyes returned to their regular grey.

Harry blinked and looked rather confused for a moment before a look of dawning comprehension graced his face. "Luna!"

"Yes. Now come, let me see what those awful muggles have done to you!" Luna cooed as she pulled Harry down into an awkward half hug, stroking his red cheek. Harry, who had not yet met Mrs. Weasley and therefore was not used to being mothered, blushed as Luna fussed over him. They talked about Harry's trip to Diagon Alley and he showed her his owl, Hedwig, who seemed to be quite taken with the young boy already.

"And your wand?" Luna asked.

Harry told her about how long it had taken him to find the perfect wand and about what Mr. Ollivander had said when he bought it.

"Don't let the fact that Voldemort has a similar wand discourage you Harry, phoenixes are wonderful creatures and you should be happy to have such a spectacular core."

The sat in silence for a while before Luna spoke again. "You are very skinny." She didn't say it accusingly, just as a statement.

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "I think I'll start bringing you food." Luna continued, ignoring Harry's discomfort "And maybe you could do push-ups… You don't have to do very many, maybe 20 a day? I think it would make you feel stronger, especially combined with the extra food."

Harry shrugged.

August passed quickly, with Luna bringing Harry food in the evenings and then talking to him before he went to sleep. Harry came to regard Luna as a close friend and even as type of mother figure as she often fussed over his health and tried her best to keep him happy and smiling. She amused him with stories of adventures to come and read through his textbooks with him telling him about the finer details of magic and teaching him useful charms and spells. He couldn't practice the spells, due to the Ministry and the law about under age magic, but she gave him a stick and had him practice the wand movements.

Luna was happy to see that shortly before September 1st, Harry's ribs were no longer visible and that he had grown an inch. He carried himself with a bit more confidence than he had previously. Harry happily told her that he was starting to feel stronger and that he was now doing 30 push-ups every day. On the last day of August, Luna sat Harry down to have a little chat.

"I have figured out how to help you." Luna started. "I can't interfere with the timeline, not yet at least. This means that you cannot remember me while at Hogwarts and I cannot be present during any important moments, at least not until your fifth year. So, I'll do what I can for you in the summers and then the last day of august every year I'll make you forget temporarily what I've taught you. I can make you stronger without mucking anything up, I think, and I can help you with schoolwork. But you won't remember anything I've taught you until after the school year."

Harry rubbed his forehead. "I don't want to forget you. And what do you mean about helping me with school _after_ each year?"

"I'm sorry Harry, but I have to make you forget. I mean that I'll tutor you during the summers, going over everything you've learnt so far and adding to it. I'll be teaching you everything I know but then I'll have to take it all away before you arrive at school as to not inflict suspicion if someone were to notice how advanced you were. When I give you back all your memories at the end of your fourth year, you will be far more advanced than your classmates, hopefully you might even be as good as I am, only without much experience in actual dueling, unless I find a way around the underage magic law. Hmm… Anyway, this will give you a better chance of surviving the war. I wont hypnotize away your memories, seeing as that would be very difficult and could, if something went wrong, leave you with a severe mental handicap. Instead I'll use a modified version of a pensive."

Harry frowned. "But what is the point of teaching me something and then making me forget it?"

"Because when I give you back the memories at the end of your fourth year, all that you have learned with me will be fresh in your mind. You will, hopefully, be more in control of your magic and I think it will give your raw magical power a boost. I think, and don't read too much into what I'm about to tell you because I'm far from certain of it, but I think that magic is like a muscle only it doesn't grow stronger only from use but also from knowledge. This onslaught of knowledge will then be like a steroid for an athlete."

Harry furrowed his brow, trying to understand.

"You make it sound like I am a weapon."

Luna's expression turned pained and she scooped him up into a warm embrace. He tensed slightly but was more used to Luna's affectionate nature now so it was more of a reflex. "Oh no no no Harry. You must never think that. You are important and irreplaceable in regards to the coming war but I expect everything you do to be done because you feel it is right. Never because you feel like you have to. You and only you are in control of your destiny. I will try to guide you, and I am not alone in that endeavor, but you must listen to your instincts first and foremost."

Harry didn't understand everything she said, but he felt comforted. He liked the idea of being in control of his own life, something he had yet to experience.

Luna let him go and fussed with his hair nervously. "I have to ask you something Harry. I don't think you are going to like it."

Harry shifted.

"I- well, a lot of… unfortunate and… what I mean is…" Luna sighed. "During this year, and the next, and the next and the one after that… Bad stuff happens, Harry. But I just don't know how to change things without mucking up the timeline too much and as Hermione has often said, bad things happen to wizards or witches who mess with time. So, I guess I'm asking you what you want me to do."

"What do you mean 'want you to do'?"

Luna bit her lip trying to force herself to remember that this was not yet her Harry, the friend who she would follow no matter what and who was a strong leader and a good man. This was Harry; eleven years old, confused and probably a little frightened.

"People are going to get hurt. A girl gets possessed. An innocent man sits in jail. A boy dies at the hands of Voldemort. It's a death that I could prevent by telling you about it but I don't know how it will affect the natural flow of events. I guess it's possible that you might not both grasp the cup this time around… I just don't know… I don't know at all. What if I help you prevent these things and it just causes other people to get hurt in their place? What if I change something that affects the outcome of the war?"

Harry felt overwhelmed. Luna was pale.

"I shouldn't burden you with these things. I just want you to be aware of what I'm doing and thinking. Time has proven that it is always a bad idea to hide something from you."

He nodded.

"Anyway, do you consent to me taking your memories of me before each school year?"

"Consent?" Harry looked confused.

"It means agree."

"Oh, well… Yes, I suppose. But I don't… Does this mean- Does this mean that I'm saying it's okay if the girl gets possessed? Or if the boy dies? Because I don't think it's okay."

"No, I don't think it's okay either. I just don't know what to do. We have time though. I'll think about it. I'll try to figure something out."

Harry watched Luna's eyes getting teary as she brought forth a stone basin. She used her wand to draw silver strands from his temple and slowly, Harry felt his memories of the summer fade away. He panicked a bit before becoming lost in the silvery swirls that were Luna's eyes.

And thus began Harry Potter's first year at Hogwarts.


	3. Lots and lots of accidental magic

**Lots and lots of accidental magic.**

Luna stroked the scar in the crook of Harry's arm looking forlorn. "I'm so sorry you had to go through this Harry, but I'm so proud of you for saving Cedric Diggory. This is the last time I remove your memories. The changes to the timeline have begun." With a last swirl of her silvery eyes, Luna disappeared with a pop, leaving a fifteen year old Harry dazed and confused.

_The injustice of it all welled up inside of him so that he wanted to yell with fury. If it hadn't been for him, nobody would even know Voldemort was back! And his reward was to be stuck in Little Whinging for four solid weeks, completely cut off from the magical world, reduced to squatting among dying begonias so the he could hear about water-skiing budgerigars. How could Dumbledore have forgotten him so easily?_

_-Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, page 15._

Harry had never been very good at hiding his emotion or reining in his anger. Today was no exception and he wanted an outlet. Harry desperately wished for someone who could shoulder his anger, someone he could yell at, someone or something he could curse. Getting up from amongst the dying begonias, he stormed off in a random direction, fuming as he felt his magic swirl within him.

As he reached the playground, his magic and anger were truly reaching critical levels. He tried to breathe, to calm down, but it was too late. The frustration he felt was prickling the inside of his skin and he could feel it starting to tickle the backs of his eyes as it always did when he was about to experience accidental magic. Alarm welled up inside of him and an unnatural wind ruffled his hair and as Harry started to feel that he would burst from anger, it all whooshed out of him in a big burst of magic.

The sound of something exploding filled the air and Harry jumped and whirled around, looking for the source of the sound. The playground was still deserted, but there was now a smoking lump of timber in the middle of it. What had previously been a sandbox was now almost comically deformed. Harry gaped at it for a few moments. He had many times in his life seen performed accidental magic, but never on this scale.

Not quite knowing what to do with himself, he decided to do what came naturally. Meaning of course, that it would be easiest to just ignore the incident and pretend it hadn't happened. With shaky legs, Harry walked briskly away from the place. As he walked, he thought. He thought of the silent treatment his friends were giving him, of all his unanswered questions regarding Voldemort, of his former Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, of the mysterious absence of deaths since Voldemort had regained his strength, of his godfather and, last but not least, he thought of dinner.

But as his mouth started salivating at the thought of Hogwarts meals he was filled with an unnatural chill, as if the air around him had turned to ice. The previously star speckled sky had turned pitch black and the soothing rustle of trees had grown silent. It was as if someone had thrown a cold, black cloak over Privet Drive.

Harry, whose thoughts had been rather dark before he daydreamed about dinner, did not feel the joy leaving his body as strongly as he had in his third year as he wasn't filled with as much of it as he had been then. But the feeling was still there. Dread filled him as he realized that there were Dementors in Little Whinging.

Harry didn't stop to think about how odd it was that the Dementors had left Azkaban. Instead he ran as fast as he could, hearing nothing but the pounding of his own heart and the soft thump of his feet hitting the ground. But despite his best efforts, the cold still caught up to him and he heard once again the sound of his mother screaming as Voldemort killed her. Summoning all his inner strength, he turned, pulling out his wand as he did so. The soon to be fifth year student squashed all unpleasant thoughts and focused on his friends. On happiness. On his parents. On his friends. "_EXPECTO PATRONUM_"

A brilliant silver stag pounced out of the tip of his wand and charged at the two, cloaked creatures that had been drawing nearer the boy. Instantly the cold that had held him in an iron grip released its hold and he no longer felt despair. Ignoring the Dementors for a moment, Harry stared slack jawed at his patronus. It was _much_ larger than he was used to. The thing was almost ten feet tall! But it did the trick rather nicely, Harry thought, as the Dementors made a speedy retreat. When the stag had filled it's purpose it strutted back over to Harry giving him what looked like a smug smile. Never before in his life had Harry seen a stag smile, let alone smugly. Baffled, he waved his wand and the stag disappeared.

He stood panting, while questions started forming in his mind. Why were the Dementors in Little Whinging? Why was his patronus super sized? His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of a ministry letter informing him that he was to attend a hearing concerning his use of underage magic.

**-ovo-**

The hearing was short and to the point. When the court expressed their skepticism at Dementors having appeared in Little Whinging, Harry willingly submitted a memory to a pensive and was cleared of all charges. The sandbox issue was not brought up and Harry assumed that the Ministry didn't know about the incident. Why they didn't know, Harry had no idea.

Mr. Weasley, who had escorted Harry to the hearing from Privet Drive, brought him to Grimmauld Place where he was reunited with his friends and Sirius. After a short temper tantrum in which Harry complained about having been kept in the dark by all of them and in the middle of which Ron and Hermione discovered that they were to be prefects, they all sat down and ate a slightly strained dinner with the members of the Order of the Phoenix.

Harry, upon finding out about the Order, immediately wanted to join. Mrs. Weasley dismissed his wish by pointing out that even if he did abandon his education, which would have been an immensely stupid thing to do, he was still underage and could therefore be tracked by the ministry.

The rest of the summer passed quickly without any more accidental bursts of magic from Harry who assumed that the sandbox incident must have been a fluke. When Harry, Ginny, Neville and Luna all got situated it their compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Harry was the least excited he had ever been to return to the castle. The Daily Prophet was discrediting him every chance it got and Harry was not eager to face the whispers and suspicion he was sure to be met with from other students. Harry was no stranger to animosity but that didn't mean he particularly enjoyed it.

He was eventually able to put his worries aside and laughed along with the others as they talked about their summers. Harry found Luna, whom he had never met before, particularly amusing. For some reason, she reminded him of someone but Harry could not for the life of him figure out whom. After a while Ron and Hermione joined them, both of them looking disgruntled.

"Malfoy is a prefect" Ron said, sounding exasperated, as he sat down. "How can _Malfoy _be a prefect?"

Harry groaned at the news. "He's going to be a nightmare."

Hermione shrugged. "Well at least he can't take away points."

Harry smiled at her before remembering something he had been meaning to ask her. "Hermione, can patronuses grow bigger?"

She looked pensive for a moment. "Well first of all, I think it's called _patroni_." Ron sniggered and Hermione glared at him. "But I've never read anything about them growing. Patroni take the shape of an animal and thus also the size of that particular animal. Why?"

"Mine is huge now."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Can you show us?"

Harry nodded and concentrated on his happiest memories. It took him a moment to get into the proper mind-frame but when he did he cast the spell. The slightly less than 10 feet tall stag had to bow it's head quite severely to fit in the compartment and many found some part of themselves positioned inside the silver animal. Harry's whole head was inside the thigh of the stag and he felt like he was underwater. The animal was radiating calm and joy and Ginny was so overwhelmed that it brought tears to her eyes.

"This is amazing, Harry" Neville said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah."

Hermione looked pensive.

Prongs faded but a happy silence lingered in the compartment. Eventually Ron said something funny to break the silence and the group continued to talk and laugh as they had earlier all the way to the platform were Harry, Hermione and Ron broke off from the others and settled themselves into a carriage.

Walking through the castle doors filled Harry with the same sense of _home _as it always had. The feast was everything he had hoped it to be and he filed away the memory of it for the next time he had to produce a patronus. The Sorting Hat's song had unnerved him, speaking of courage and unity and he felt, briefly, a heavy weight settle upon his shoulders. The feeling passed however and he was able to smile and laugh all the way back to the Gryffindor common room and later the dormitory despite of the bad feeling he got from their new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, a toad like woman from the Ministry whom Harry had no doubt was going to try to reassure everyone that Voldemort was dead. Fool.

"Hey Harry!" said Dean, when Harry entered the dormitory. "Good holiday?"

"Ehm, well. Not bad." Harry muttered. "You?" He moved towards his bed and started fussing with his belongings.

"It was OK, better than Seamus' anyway." Dean chuckled and started rummaging through his trunk.

"Why, what happened?" Harry asked, turning towards the boy in question. Seamus was standing with his back to Harry hanging up posters on the wall. Slowly, the boy turned to glare at Harry.

"My mum almost didn't let me come back to Hogwarts this year."

It's funny how much a few words can affect the mood in a room. Tension was running higher than when Peeves gets that nasty '_I'm going to prank you so hard that your socks fall off'_ look in his eye.

"Oh, why?" Harry asked, dreading the answer.

"Well, mostly because of you, and what the Daily Prophet's been writing about you and Dumbledore."

Harry sighed. "She believes that I'm a liar and that Dumbledore is a fool?"

Seamus winced a little but did not back down. "Yeah, something like that."

"Then she is the fool." Harry hated that he always had to be the one who was stared at, talked about and how he was constantly in the spotlight. He couldn't believe how some people actually envied him. If they had any idea what it was like, what it felt like to be famous for something that killed your parents. They just didn't understand. And he shouldn't have to spell it out. If Seamus' mum, or anyone else for that matter, wanted to believe he was a liar then so be it. But why anyone would believe that he would lie about Voldemort being back was a mystery to him.

"Don't talk about my mother like that!"

"I'll have a go at anyone who calls me a liar!"

Seamus' eyes widened and for a moment he looked a little scared. It was then that Harry realized all the beds and trunks in the room were rattling, quite violently at that. Seamus grabbed his wand and pointed it with shaking hands at Harry.

"Stop it, whatever it is that you are doing. Stop it!"

The rattling grew louder.

"What's going on in here?" Ron asked stopping in the doorway, his prefects badge clearly visible on his chest.

Seamus lowered his wand, but didn't break eye contact with Harry. The rattling stopped.

"Nothing" Harry muttered, brushing past his best mate and heading down towards the common room. "Not a thing"

Few Gryffindors were still present as Harry sat down sullenly in one of the chairs facing the fire. One of them was none other than Ginevra Weasley, who regarded Harry with calculating eyes. "You know," she said, putting down her textbook on transfiguration and folding her arms in a businesslike manner. "You might feel better if you talk about it."

Harry looked at her for a moment. "Talk about what?"

She huffed. "I'm not stupid you know. I've read the Prophet and I know what they are saying about you." Harry opened his mouth to say something but Ginny gave him a very sharp look, so he remained silent. "I didn't say I _believe_ what they are writing." Ginny continued. "But I know some people might. You don't know what it was like during the first war and neither do I. But many parents _do_ remember. They remember living in constant fear and they remember waking up some days to learn that their neighbor had been murdered, or their best friend. None of them are keen on embracing the fact that Voldemort is back. They are in denial and so is Fudge. But you can't let it get to you Harry. Stay strong."

Harry looked into the fire, contemplating her words. Finally, he stood up and headed back to the boys dormitories, squeezing her shoulder in passing. She recognized the gesture as a thank you and smiled softly as she once again picked up her textbook. Slowly Harry ascended the stairs. He stood outside the door to the fifth year's dorm for quite some time. Ginny was right, he couldn't go nuts every time someone doubted him. He was a teenager and adults saw him as such. It was easy for the Prophet to twist his words and they did so with a flourish. He couldn't blame Seamus' mum for not wanting to believe Voldemort was back. It was his word against the Ministry's and Seamus' mum didn't even know him. With a sigh, he entered the room and walked over to Seamus who was sitting on his bed. The Gryffindor narrowed his eyes at Harry but relaxed as he saw the apology clearly visibly on Harry's face.

"Look mate, I'm sorry I flew off my handle like that. But I really am telling the truth and it isn't my fault if your mum doesn't believe me. What happened that night- I" Harry tugged on his hair in frustration. "I really don't want to talk about it. But Voldemort needed my blood to come back, and he took it. He tried to kill me, but I got away. Barely. I really thought I was going to die that night. The only reason that I'm still alive is because he needed me. And he used the Cruci- well, anyway. He's back." Seamus looked stricken, and Harry noticed that both Dean and Neville were looking at him intently. "Voldemort _is_ back. And if we pretend he's not, we'll all die."

With that Harry flopped down on his bed and pulled the hangings around him, but not before noticing Ron's less than subtle thumbs up. Smiling in spite of himself, it didn't take long before Harry was asleep, dreaming of long dark corridors and mysterious doors.

The following morning, Harry woke up to the sound of Ron bustling about in the room quite noisily. Irritated, he threw a pillow at the redhead but missed by quite a bit. This did not go unnoticed.

"Hey! Whatchu playing at?" Ron demanded throwing the pillow back at Harry who neatly caught it and tossed it back onto his bed.

"Well, I was sleeping you prat. Why d'you have to make so much noise? Haven't you ever heard of being stealthy?"

Ron was just about to answer when a pillow hit him square in the face. "Mmhfh!"

"Shut. Up." Neville croaked having thrown the pillow with amazing accuracy considering the fact that he was still half asleep. A second later Neville squeaked, as a pillow hit him too. Dean smiled, looking quite pleased at having caused Neville to make such an embarrassing noise. When the boy in question glared at him he just shrugged. "You woke me up"

"Will you all just sod off," Seamus muttered angrily form under his covers.

There was a beat of silence before the poor tired Gryffindor was pelted by pillows.

**-ovo-**

A week passed uneventfully for the inhabitants of Hogwarts if one didn't take into account the lurid pink monstrosity named Dolores Umbridge.

"That woman is a foul toad." Hermione spat after a particularly aggravating DADA lesson. "I don't how we are supposed to learn _anything _with _her_ as our teacher." Ron nodded gravely. Harry had no idea how Professor McGonagall expected him to keep his temper under control during Umbridge's lesson, it was like asking him to befriend Snape, or snog Malfoy. Impossible and vile to even consider.

"I'm going to fail my Defence OWL" Hermione whimpered and Ron gave her an exasperated look. Harry just sighed and clutched his hand. The skin was red and irritated after last night's detention, the words _I must not tell lies_ still faintly visible.

"Don't worry Hermione. We can just practice defensive spells on the side. What Umbridge doesn't know won't hurt her." Dean said as he and Seamus joined them by the fire in the common room.

"That's brilliant Dean! D'you hear that Hermione? You can just learn the stuff on your own. We all can!" Ron said as he patted her on the back.

"But who is going to teach us how to perform the spells correctly?"

"I don't know, some teacher. Professor McGonagall probably could, if we asked her nicely." Seamus offered.

"No, I reckon Umbridge would be furious if she found out. She would find a way to sack McGonagall. I don't think we can ask a teacher. At least not one that we wouldn't want sacked, and Snape would just say no if we asked him." Harry said. This comment earned an amused smile from Ron.

After a moments pause, Hermione's eyes gleamed and Harry frowned at her. He knew that look. It was the look Hermione got when she had figured something out.

"A student then" she said. "Someone with real experience fighting against the Dark Arts. Someone who's been there, who knows how it feels."

Harry spluttered as Seamus, Dean, Ron and Hermione all turned to look at him.

"Me? But I can't teach you anything. Hermione, you know more spells than I do, and I'm not nearly good enough to teach anybody anything."

Hermione raised her eyebrow. "Harry, you can cast a corporeal patronus, you won the TriWizard tournament and you fought a basilisk in your second year. Everyone knows you are the best at Defence against the Dark Arts. You can do this."

Seamus and Dean looked flabbergasted. "Blimey Harry, was that part about the basilisk true?" Dean said. "I thought that was only a rumor!"

Harry sighed.

Eventually the others wore him down and Harry agreed to teach them what he knew, although he only agreed to start doing so _after_ attempting to tackle the vast amounts of homework placed upon the fifth-years. The lessons this year were gruesome thanks to those bothersome OWL's. Harry still did not know how to properly vanish a snail.

During a relatively calm week towards the end of October, Dumbledore's Army was formed and a contract was signed. The Room of Requirement was discovered shortly thereafter and at the beginning of their third DA meeting there, Harry looked around at the members happily.

"Today, we are going to practice shield charms." he announced, earning and excited murmur from everybody in the room.

"I'm now going to show you all how it's done." Harry felt a little awkward when it came to telling people what to do and it always surprised him how vigilantly the DA members always listened to him. "Hermione, try to disarm me and I'll try and block you."

Hermione smiled and walked up in front of the rest, facing Harry. After a beat of silence, she raised her wand.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Protego!"

Hermione's spell bounced harmlessly off the shield and she ducked as it rebounded back to her.

"Now you try," Harry said, motioning for the members to pair up.

He watched them all, a sense of pride and happiness filling him. It felt so good to be_ doing_ something. He saw Luna block spells from two people at once while singing rather loudly. Ginny, being one of the people who cast a spell against her laughed and stepped aside as the spell rebounded.

Cedric and Cho were playfully exchanging spells somehow managing to flirt at the same time. Harry hesitated, expecting to feel jealous, but no such feeling arose. He walked on, making small corrections here and there but for the most part just watching. As Harry watched his friends duel, he started thinking for the first time that they all actually might stand a chance if forced to fight. While still filled with this warm fuzzy feeling he pointed his wand at an oncoming stray spell and yelled, "PROTEGO!"

A blinding white light shot out of his wand and the most powerful shield Harry had ever produced blasted out in front of him, knocking everyone standing too close to the ground. Ron, who had been standing the closest to Harry, got smacked so hard in the back by the shield that he flew forwards, landing in a heap a few broom lengths away.

The room grew very silent as they all stared at Harry.

"Bloody hell, mate" Ron groaned.

After a moment of tense silence Harry turned and rushed towards the door, his best friends hot on his heels.

"Harry!" Hermione called as Harry walked briskly down the corridor.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Harry!"

"No!"

"But Harry, that was brilliant!"

"I- I can't produce a shield that strong. It was a fluke."

"A fluke? A FLUKE? It was BRILLIANT." Ron spluttered.

"You should go see Dumbledore." Hermione interjected.

Harry glared at her. "It was just a fluke, just like the exploding sandbox." Harry said determinedly.

"I wish I could experience flukes..." Ron said with a dreamy expression on his face. Then his eyes widened with sudden comprehension. "Hey, wait a minute! Exploding sandbox? You made a sandbox EXPLODE?"

Harry uttered a low curse for letting that particular piece of information slip and then he waved his hand vaguely. "It was an accident. I got angry, that's all."

"Harry, these seem like very powerful bursts of magic. I really think you should go talk to Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall" Hermione persisted.

"No."

She sighed.

They all flopped down into their regular chairs by the fire in the common room. Ron was making excited exploding noises, and waving his hands about frantically having completely ignored the Dumbledore part of the conversation and instead focused on the fact that his best mate had made something explode.

While the DA seemed to believe Harry's claim that Voldemort was back, the rest of the school was not convinced. He was used to whispers and stares, but not since second year had they been quite so… hostile. His friends tried to shield him from it all to the best of their ability but he still prickled with frustration and anger every time he someone around him referenced the Daily Prophets stories about his mental instability.

Harry definitively did not want to bother Dumbledore with his magical "incidents". He had not forgotten, nor forgiven the sense of abandonment he had felt during the summer. But it was more than that; his emotions scared him a bit. While always having had a bit of a temper, Harry's emotions had never felt this uncontrolled. His magic, as a result, had also felt a bit wild.

The next day, Charms class was particularly boring as Harry, Ron and Hermione practiced the Hover charm on a stack of pillows. Ron's pillow was flailing and flopping on the desk in front of him as he stared at it with a frustrated expression. Hermione's pillows were zooming into the allotted boxes in the corners of the classroom. Harry was absentmindedly playing with his by making it circle menacingly above Ron's head when he heard whispers from behind him.

"_..says you-know-who's back. Gone bonkers if you ask me."_

"_What really happened in that graveyard? What if…"_

"_...just wants attention I reckon"_

"_My mum might not let me come back next year, all because of…"_

Harry was abruptly very angry. Why did no one believe him? Why did everyone find it so easy to assume that he had willingly made up a story about Voldemort being back? And when during his previous four years at Hogwarts had he EVER begged for attention? Harry grimly flicked his wand in the general direction of a pillow without really thinking about what he was doing, and suddenly _all_ the pillows zoomed into the air, raining down on peoples heads at random before zooming up into the air again, causing chaos in the classroom. Many pillows ripped and feathers were suddenly everywhere_._ Professor Flitwick was flailing about and shouting at random, trying to make himself heard over the confused yells of the students.

People started yelling _Accio _at the pillows, trying to gather them all in one place. But someone's summoning spell missed and hit Professor Flitwick instead, sending him flying through the cloud of feathers screaming like a banshee. Ron was laughing with tears streaming down his face but Hermione did not look amused. She turned to Harry and glared.

"Dumbledore" she snapped.

Harry eyed the chaos around him deciding that maybe he should talk to someone about his magic after all.


	4. Professor Sprout spikes pumpkin juice

**Professor Sprout had spiked all the pumpkin juice**

The gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office was used to seeing people come and go. He prided himself in being very particular about whom he let enter. Security was, after all, his job. This meant that the gargoyle spent a vast amount of time studying Hogwarts students meticulously.

He remembered the first time he saw who would come to be called Voldemort. Tom Riddle had been a scrawny yet handsome boy, and the gargoyle had watched him charm his way into getting what he wanted. That boy had certainly been a true Slytherin.

Then along came another boy, a famous boy. A boy who reminded him of Riddle quite a lot, despite the fact that he was a Gryffindor. And yet, beyond the obvious resemblances, the two were quite different. If a gargoyle could have a favorite person, then that person would undoubtedly be Harry James Potter. The boy had a knack for getting into trouble, but he was also unfailingly honest and true. Fame did not inflate his ego, and it was obvious how selfless he was. Harry Potter was a _good_ person. A trait that, unfortunately, was very rare. Harry was an excellent person who just happened to be a trouble magnet. And today, the gargoyle mused as he watched Harry approaching looking very uneasy, did not seem to be an exception.

"Lemon, ehm- well, Lemon something."

The gargoyle remained still and unmoving.

"Chocolate Frogs." "Berty Botts Every Flavoured Beans" "Treacle Tart" "Pheonix" "Oh, come _on_!"

Harry huffed and glared at the gargoyle.

"Look, if you don't open up I'll dress you in a tutu and get Hermione to place a permanent sticking charm on it."

The gargoyle smoothly stepped aside. Yes, Harry Potter was indeed his favorite.

**-ovo-**

Albus Dumbledore was confused. He didn't like being wrong.

Harry James Potter was pacing in front of his desk having just confessed to being more powerful than anyone else in his year. These were not, of course, the words he himself had used. But Dumbledore had taken the liberty of making this very likely conclusion.

Ever since Harry's arrival at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore had been observing the boy closely. He had noted his bravery, courage, loyalty and the boy's pure and good heart. Albus was thus convinced that the prophecy referred to the boy's ability to love when it spoke of _power the Dark Lord has not_. And yet, as he watched the teenager pace in front of him, talking of pillows going crazy, exploding sandboxes and super powered shield charms; Albus was forced to realize that Harry Potter had much more potential than he had given him credit for. He tried to calm the boy, vaguely insinuating that the accidental magic was just a sign of his powers growing.

When Harry had left, the Headmaster popped a lemon drop in his mouth and propped his feet up on the desk, wiggling his sock-covered toes. Greater forces always seemed to be at work when it came to Harry Potter. It was ridiculously interesting to observe.

**-ovo-**

"So, what did Dumbledore say?" Ron asked when Harry plopped down at the Gryffindor table for lunch.

"Well, I dunno really. He kept speaking in riddles looking far too pleased with himself whenever I asked what he meant by it all." Harry gave Hermione a pointed look at this. "Basically he was no help at all. Just kept saying things like 'Interesting.' 'Fascinating' or 'You don't say!' and he refused to make any kind of eye contact…"

Hermione started ranting about "_better safe than sorry_". But nobody paid her much attention.

Harry's eyes drifted over to the far side of the table where he saw Ginny and Colin laughing at a joke or a funny comment. Harry quickly averted his eyes and looked back at Ron who was shoveling food down his throat at a disgusting pace.

"_Honestly_ Ron, that's gross." Hermione commented before swiftly standing up and walking off. Harry tried not to laugh and picked absentmindedly at his food with his fork. Ron frowned at her retreating back before laying his fork down and standing up.

"Come on then, lets head off to Quidditch practise" Ron suggested.

"Yeah, you go ahead. I need to get something from the dorm." Harry replied before standing up as well.

Ron shrugged and walked off while Harry turned and walked in the other direction. He was passing through a deserted part of the castle when someone suddenly tackled him from behind. Harry was about to let out a surprised yell, but was hindered by the hand that clamped down over his mouth.

"Shhh!"

Harry felt himself being pushed into an empty classroom before he was tightly bound to a chair by ropes that seemed to appear from thin air.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to appear quite this dramatically this year but I haven't been able to find you alone once! You have been watched constantly by the Order and at school you are always surrounded by friends."

The person talking was standing behind him, preventing him from seeing their face but the voice was very familiar.

"Luna?"

Harry heard her giggle. "Yes, but not the Luna you know…"

With this said, Luna Lovegood stepped into Harry's line of sight. And it _was_ Luna, only several years older.

"I just came from talking to Dumbledore. I convinced him to tell you the prophecy. He didn't want to, but the old man was so overwhelmed by meeting someone from the future that he didn't have the energy to fight me on this." Luna smirked.

Harry just blinked and squirmed against the ropes holding him to the chair.

"Hang on, I'll release you in just a sec. I just have to give you a memory first."

The door swung open just as the ropes around Harry disappeared. Luna Lovegood, the younger version, stepped through the door and eyed Harry curiously.

"Was I just here?" Luna looked confused as she asked.

"Er, no…?" Harry was casting nervous glances at the older Luna who was standing in the corner slightly behind the door that younger Luna had come through. The older Luna stepped forward and put her hand on the younger Luna's shoulder. With a flash of blue light, the two Luna's merged and the older Luna's body disintegrated into a silvery mist that was absorbed into the younger Luna's left ear. Harry just stared.

Luna shook her head as if to clear it and then she smiled benignly, looking loonier than ever. "Do you trust Ginny Weasley with your life?"

"W-what?" Harry stammered.

"Come" Luna said, taking Harry's hand and dragging him out of the classroom as he stumbled along behind her, vaguely wondering why he'd even bothered getting out of bed that morning.

**-ovo-**

Firenze gazed at the sky. Centaurs were impartial. But the creature couldn't help but smile as he looked up. "Saturn is aligned with Mars, a sign of power." He whispered. "Good luck, Harry Potter."

**-ovo-**

"I thought you couldn't meet your other self?" Harry muttered when he had recovered from the massive shock of seeing someone's body enter someone else's through an ear.

"I thought so too. But it worked out alright I suppose."

"Oh. Well.. Um, what about Ginny?"

"What about her?"

"Well why did you ask me if I trusted her with my life?"

"Do you?"

"Well, yeah, I guess so..?"

Luna turned and started walking away much to Harry's utter confusion. "Go to Dumbledore soon. Tonight. Then come to me, when you want answers." She said before walking around a corner and disappearing.

"You trust me with your life?" Harry heard someone ask from behind him. He turned and spotted Ginny who was smiling. Harry walked towards her.

"Ginny! Quick! Say something normal. I think I'm losing my mind."

She raised her eyebrow. "Is Luna messing with you?"

"Depends on which Luna you are referring to. I've seen two tonight."

Ginny laughed incredulously. "Well this sounds interesting. Tell me Potter, how can there be two of the same person?"

Harry snorted and started telling Ginny about his third year at Hogwarts and Hermione's time-turner. This led to further questions about Sirius, which lead to stories of the Marauders. The talked for hours, walking aimlessly around the school grounds before Harry once again remembered Luna and her cryptic comment about Dumbledore. Harry said goodbye to Ginny and hurried off towards the Headmaster's office.

**-ovo-**

_The one with power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal. But he will have power the Dark Lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives._ It was echoing in his head, like a broken record, a really disturbing, depressing and rather morbid record.

"What power do I have that Voldemort does not?" Harry spoke softly.

Dumbledore hesitated, but since he could not be certain of any other power he answered what he had originally thought to be true.

"Well, for one thing. You have the ability to love."

Harry squirmed. His mind was still rather soggy after hearing that he must kill and after all that business with Luna earlier, and so his response sounded dumber than the gurgling noise Ron had made the first time he spotted a Veela. "Love? You want me to defeat Voldemort by loving him to death? That's a little disturbing Professor…" Dumbledore looked as if he had been hit by a confundus charm.

An awkward silence fell over the room. Harry rubbed his head as he laughed nervously, trying to make his brain function better.

"Well, ehm. Goodness, look at the time. You should head back to your dorm, Harry. We will continue this conversation at another time."

**-ovo-**

Meanwhile, back in the common room, the Gryffindors were all listening with rapt attention as one of the portraits was telling them all the juicy gossip. Although, since the news had travelled down the grape-wine it was a little disjointed and confusing.

"So then the misty woman told them about this _prophecy_. And_ apparently_ Harry Potter has been chosen to kill Voldemort since he was _born_." The portrait made a dramatic pause that was perfected by the scandalized looks on those listening.

"And _then_ Dumbledore said that it would just have easily been Neville Longbottom who became the chosen one. I think that _maybe_ Voldemort was lazy and just tried to kill the most _convenient_ boy who was born as the seventh month died."

At this, Neville fainted.

"But then it got weird because that Potter bloke said something about falling in love with the Dark Lord."

It was like when something really terrible has been said and everyone gets really angry or sad except for one or two people who are so stunned that they laugh even though it isn't really funny. Then the laughter starts getting contagious so everyone else starts laughing as well. And then someone says something that actually is rather amusing and suddenly tears are streaming down peoples faces, as they lay doubled over laughing.

As the Gryffindor's lay draped over various pieces of furniture, and as their laughter had started to abate, the common room door opened and the Chosen One stepped in.

This caused more laughter.

Ron wobbled over to Harry and clapped him on the shoulder. "Really mate, in love with You-Know-Who? Isn't that taking it all a little too far?"

Harry wondered how Ron could possibly know what he and Dumbledore had been talking about but then his gaze fell on the blushing portrait. He sighed. "Listen up everyone!" he shouted.

The laughter died down and everyone turned to watch Harry with amused expressions. Harry frowned, his anger flaring. He couldn't see what was so funny. "Think this is funny do you?" He took a deep breath and then he spoke with an eerily calm voice. _"The one with power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal. But he will have power the Dark Lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives."_

A clap of thunder could be heard from outside as the Gryffindors all stood in stunned silence. "So, either I die, or Voldemort dies. And frankly, we all know the odds aren't exactly stacked in my favor. Still think it's funny?"

No one was smiling. Neville, who had been awaken by Lavender, looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Harry caught Ginny's eye as she and Hermione came down the stairs. They had not participated in the merriment earlier as they had both felt that it was rather rude to spy. Hermione had tears in her eyes and scurried over to Ron, who wrapped his arm around her. Ginny just looked mad. Not at any particular person, just plain mad.

"I know you can defeat him, Harry," she said. "Just looked at all you've done already. You defeated him in your first year. Killed his memory in your second and evaded him yet again in your fourth year. You saved me from a basilisk, fought a mountain troll, got chased by a dragon and defeated hundreds of Dementors all at once. You speak parseltongue and you are the best in our school at Defence against the Dark Arts. I believe in you Harry."

Harry blushed as the rest of the Gryffindors cheered at Ginny's speech. All except for Hermione who thought it had sounded really cheesy, like some motivational speech from a movie, but she was too busy being side-hugged by Ron to say so.

"I had help…" Harry said feebly but no one listened.

Harry stood up a bit straighter as the Gryffindors continued to cheer. Or at least, he stood up straighter for a little while, before realizing how stupid he had been for telling everyone the prophecy. It was, after all, supposed to be a _secret _prophecy.

"Oh bugger"

Harry grew really anxious. But then, as if bloody Fate itself had taken pity on him, it turned out that Professor Sprout had spiked all the pumpkin juice with a Memory confounding potion strong enough for everyone to forget all that been said from the about the time were the portrait had started telling them about prophecy up until Ginny's speech. As it turns out, luck cannot not _always _evade The-Boy-Who-Lived.

_Why_ Professor Sprout had done this remains a mystery. But we are talking about Hogwarts here; nothing ever seems to make much sense in that castle.


	5. Dumbledore dances

**Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore did a jig.**

After arguing with himself for a few days, Harry chose to reveal the prophecy again to Ron, Hermione and Ginny, whom he apparently trusted with his life, so why not trust her with this as well.

"So, erm-" Ron scratched the back of his head. "How are you holding up?"

He, Hermione and Harry were all sitting by the fire in the common room. It was late, and most people had gone to bed. Harry looked at Ron for a moment with a blank expression on his face.

"Well, I can't_ not_ try to kill Voldemort" He said after a while. Ron flinched, causing Hermione to scowl at him. Harry ignored them both and continued. "And sometimes, sometimes I feel like I could actually do it. Like I could face him and fight him." Harry was surprised. The words had flown out of him without his permission. But they felt_ true_. Hermione bit her lip and glanced at Ron again. At roughly the same time Colin Creevy glanced at Ginny who was glaring at Lavender who was laughing at a second year with _really_ ugly glasses.

"He- He's ruined so many families and killed so many people." Harry looked into the fire and missed the look that passed between Ron and Hermione. But considering how many looks had been flying around since the beginning of his very short speech, this was not surprising. "I want him dead. And I have to be the one to do it" Harry's voice faltered. Hermione looked amazed, but not surprised.

"I've never told you this Harry" she said. "Partly because I knew you didn't want to hear it. But I think you should" she straightened her shoulders and looked him dead in the eye. "You are a natural born leader and a far better person than people give you credit for. I'm very glad to know you, Harry Potter, let alone call you friend."

This made Harry very embarrassed. But he forced away the heat from his cheeks and returned her gaze steadily. "Thank you."

Ron, being the baby that he is, felt left out and harshly tugged on Hermione's hair to get her attention. She snapped at him and that was all it took for a full-blown argument to break out. Harry rolled his eyes, but was secretly very glad that the spotlight was off him.

Later that day he was walking down an empty corridor on his way down to the Ravenclaw common room to find Luna. He needed answers and had recovered enough from the weirdness of it all that he felt he was ready to talk.

"Harry!"

Harry turned around, surprised to see Ginny chasing after him. She nearly crashed into him when she reached him and Harry grabbed her elbow to steady her. "Thanks" she beamed. "Dumbledore wanted me to give this to you," she said handing over a sealed scroll. Another smile, and then she was gone. Harry watched her go, before shaking his head and looking back at the scroll.

_Meet me in my office._

_We have pressing matters to discuss._

_Fizzing Whizbee_

Dumbledore was sitting with his back to Harry when he entered the headmaster's office, there was a moment of awkward silence before the headmaster swiveled his chair around dramatically. "Hello Harry, please take a seat."

Harry sat, fidgeting as he did so.

"Harry, I know you must be feeling concerned about the prophecy."

"Actually, sir, I've been trying not to think about it too much. I mean, want to be able to face Voldemort and live, but I'm _fifteen_. I'm barely mature enough to not spill food on my shirt when I eat, let alone mature enough to handle _this_."

Dumbledore smiled fondly. "This is a great responsibility. But there is a way. As of now, Voldemort is immortal." _Well that makes me feel better_, Harry thought exasperatedly. "I believe he has created something called Horcruxes." Dumbledore continued. "This I learned from a memory collected from a former colleague of mine, Horace Slughorn. Would you like to see it?"

Harry nodded even though it was clear that this was more of a command than a request. He watched Dumbledore bring forth the pensive, and after diving into it he watched Tom Riddle calmly discuss splitting his soul into seven pieces. When the memory had ended, a new one flickered into place automatically. The interview with Voldemort regarding a job offer at the school, the Gaunt family ring and Tom's mother, Tom as a boy finding out that he was a wizard and finally Hokey the house elf showing Tom the cup.

"_Seven_?"

Dumbledore looked grave. "Yes Harry, _seven._"

"Lovely" Harry said, his voice sounding squeaky with panic. "The ring, is the ring a Horcrux?"

"I think so, yes."

"And it could be any object? No matter how common?"

"Yes."

"The cup..?"

"Yes."

"Helga Hufflepuff's cup…" Harry stood up and started pacing. "He was an orphan like me. I remember him talking about how alike we were when I was in the chamber. He loved Hogwarts. It was his only home. He was the heir of Slytherin… The chamber… The diary?"

"Yes Harry, the diary was a Horcrux." Dumbledore looked surprised.

"The ring, the cup, the diary. Four more. Four. There were four founders of Hogwarts. If we wanted the cup he would have wanted something from the other three as well, wouldn't he? To complete the set? What a sick bastard… The chamber…" Dumbledore sat silently, watching the boy who seemed to have forgotten he had an audience. "The chamber… the chamber… Salazar Slytherin… Professor! You don't think… the basilisk?"

"No Harry. I don't think the basilisk was a Horcrux."

Harry looked a little disappointed.

"So, if he had something from Helga Hufflepuff, then that leaves Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. The sword?"

"No, not the sword."

Harry huffed. "Well, anyway… the cup, the ring and the diary. If he did want something from all houses, and if he did make a Horcrux out of something from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin as well then that leaves one more thing, doesn't it?"

"Yes Harry. But we cannot be sure of these things. And it is not the primary reason I asked you to come here tonight."

"Oh"

"I want to discuss your safety."

"Oh"

Dumbledore twirled his wand, his blue eyes twinkling behind half moon spectacles. "I would like for you to attend extra lessons."

"Okay. What am I going to be studying during these lessons? Sir."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled even more than before. "Oh, I was thinking that you might be interested in becoming an animagus."

Harry's eyes widened. "Why?"

There was more eye twinkling. "I think you'll find it can be very convenient to have the ability to walk around undetected. It took your father and his friends years to develop his animagus form, but due to some, er, recent developments, I think it might take you less time."

"What sort of developments?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"You'll find out soon enough. Have a pleasant evening." It was a clear dismissal and Harry nodded briefly to Dumbledore before leaving, absentmindedly patted the gargoyle a bit on the shoulder as he passed.

Harry forgot all about finding Luna as he walked back to the common room, contemplating becoming an animagus.

**-ovo-**

"That's BRILLIANT mate" Ron scuffed Harry on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I thought so too" Harry smiled uncertainly as he collapsed into a chair in the common room. Ron started wondering out loud which animal Harry was going to turn into. His top three most likely were: a phoenix, a basilisk or a fly. This led to a heated debate between Ron and Hermione about the usefulness of being a fly, a debate that soon turned into a full-blown row.

Ginny ignored them, instead she watched Harry closely. "You say you thought, not you think," she observed tapping her chin with her wand thoughtfully. Harry frowned at her, he didn't like feeling like an open book.

"_Of course he wouldn't be a fly Rod, I mean honestly. A fly? How stupid."_

"Well, I thought it was pretty brilliant at first. But then... I mean, they're only teaching me these kinds of things because I'm Harry Potter."

"_STUPID? I'm not stupid. Just because you are a know-it-all doesn't mean that-"_

"And no matter how much Snape claims that I secretly love the attention- Greasy git, I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would make HIM a teacher. I mean," Ginny poked him in the arm. "Oh, right. Where was I? Oh, well I- er, don't like the attention. I don't want to be seen as a hero when I'm just… me. You know?" Harry squirmed awkwardly when he noted how mushy this conversation was getting.

Ginny smiled at him. "Yes, you will be seen as just a hero. But not by the people who count. The ones who love you don't care about you because of your fame; they love you regardless of it."

"_RONALD! How can you say something like that! Just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon-"_

"Dumbledore can't change the prophecy so he's making damned sure it turns out in your favor. And, well, would you hand this burden over to anyone else? Would you walk away from it? I know you Harry; you're too noble for your own good. You are doing this for the people you love. You have a purpose. Don't forget that."

"_WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO HAVE A GO AT ME? CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?"_

Harry stared at her. "How do you _do_ that?"

"_FINE! MAYBE I WILL!"_

Ginny shifted in her seat, his stare made her embarrassed. "Do what?"

"Make me feel better." Ginny just smiled. The sound of a door slamming broke their little bubble and they both looked up, startled. Ron was sitting in a chair, his face was flaming red and he was out of breath. "Can." _wheeze_ "You." _wheeze _"_Believe_ her?"

**-ovo-**

A week passed, filled with heavy loads of homework and successful DA meetings. Umbridge was getting nastier by the minute and Malfoy, now a proud member of the inquisitorial squad, was taking points from houses with glee. After a particularly stressful Potions class, Harry walked out to find Ginny waiting for him. Smiling, he rushed up to her.

"What's up?"

"Dumbledore wanted me to give this to you" Ginny handed him a scroll of parchment.

"Oh" The walked next to each other, rather awkwardly.

"So how is Quidditch going?" He asked. It was a stupid question and he flushed a little. Ginny had taken over as Seeker for the Gryffindor team after Umbridge banned him from playing during an especially heated argument between the two.

"Well…" They stopped by a window facing the Quidditch pitch "I'm okay. But not as good as you." Ginny answered.

She watched him stare at Ravenclaw's practicing team with a wistful expression. "You really miss it don't you?"

He snorted. She scratched her nose, something she always did when thinking. "Meet me here tonight at eight. Don't forget Dumbledore." she lightly pushed him away from the window and towards the headmaster's office before taking off in the other direction.

**-ovo-**

Harry wore a faraway expression as he entered Dumbledore's office and the headmaster watched him, amused. It took a few moments for Harry to realize that he had reached his destination and when he did he quickly focused on Dumbledore. "Hello Harry," the headmaster said, indicating to a chair. "Please have a seat."

Harry sat.

"I would like it if you could tell me more about the accidental magic you have done this term." Dumbledore clasped his hands together and watched Harry intently.

"Er, 's been happening when I feel very strongly about something. Happy, angry… or, er, very sad…"

"So, basically when you were feeling emotional" Dumbledore spoke softly.

"Yes, I guess so, sir."

"And do you feel more powerful?"

"Yes."

"Does that make you happy?"

Harry furrowed his brow. "Professor Quirrel said that there was no good and evil, only power. He was wrong. Power does not make me happy, it's what I do with the power that I care about. I want enough power to fulfill the prophecy. No more." He felt like a naïve child for thinking that he could stop Voldemort who knew a great deal more magic than him, but Voldemort had to be stopped and he had to be the one to do it. And Harry did not want to die, not when he had so much to live for, so there was no other option really. He was going to squash Tom Riddle. Bye bye.

Fate was a rather dodgy tosser, Dumbledore mused, warranting the fact that it caused fifteen-year olds with weird scars to plan murder. "You are far more wise than I was at your age Harry. Now, would you please cast your patronus for me?"

Harry smiled nervously at the praise and raised his wand. He summoned forth all his happy memories. He thought of Hermione and Ron. And he thought of Ginny, of her fiery hair, how she knew how to cheer him up and the look she got in her eyes when she talked about something she truly cared about. With happy butterflies fluttering around in his abdomen (or rather, with rampaging Crumple-Horned Snorcracks mucking around with his organs) he cast the spell.

The stag seemed almost solid this time and it had a silvery gold color. The air around the patronus seemed to pulse and joy radiated out of it. A first year that was crying out in the hallway stopped and two sixth years having a row a little further off smiled and made up. Dumbledore watched the stag with an awed expression. "This is truly magnificent Harry," he whispered.

Harry was patting its head with a lazy smile. "Yeah, it's pretty neat."

The stag bowed and turned to walk away, disappearing in a wisp of silver mist. Dumbledore watched it go, smiling, before looking back at Harry.

"I have heard Professor Umbridge express suspicion about you having organized a defense club?"

Harry frowned. "She doesn't teach us _anything. _And we have to able to defend ourselves against what's out there. I told people that they could join even if they don't believe me about Voldemort being back. They're all getting very good." He wore a proud smile as he stopped talking.

"Be cautious Harry, there are many who have noticed the similarities between you and Tom Riddle. If they learn that you have followers in school, just like he did, I'm afraid they might not take it lightly."

Harry bristled at this. "They are not my followers! I have not branded them like cattle."

Dumbledore smiled. "I do not doubt you Harry. However, I must ask you to take that opportunity to learn as many new spells as possible. Healing spells as well."

Harry looked resigned. "There is going to be a war, isn't there?"

Dumbledore looked grave, but did not answer.

"I don't want people to die. I don't want more families to suffer. I want to stop it. I want to kill him. Does that make me bad?"

"No."

Harry nodded, lost in thought.

"If we destroy the Horcruxes, can the war be avoided?" Harry asked after a while.

"Voldemort is gathering an army as we speak, and his job is being made far more easy by the ignorance displayed by the ministry. If we move quickly the war might be avoided, yes. But Harry, the life of every wizard and witch does not lie on your shoulders. Don't carry that burden unnecessarily. You mustn't blame yourself for what Voldemort does or doesn't do. I'm afraid he might take advantage of your nobility."

"Seven Horcruxes?"

Dumbledore gazed sadly at the scar on Harry's head, looking very old and tired. "Yes Harry. But it is getting late."

Harry nodded and stood up, hearing the dismissal in Dumbledore's voice. As he turned, Dumbledore spoke. "One more thing Harry, do you mind letting me see your memories of the accidental magic in the pensieve?"

"Sure"

**-ovo-**

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore did a jig around his office as the other headmasters clapped along from inside their portraits.

"Did you _see _his patronus?" one of them asked another.

"We are going to win! We are going to win! We are going to win," the current headmaster chanted as he continued to dance around happily.

"Did you hear how quickly he figured out the horcruxes?"

"The boy makes sandboxes _explode _when he is feeling angry!"

"We are going to win! We are going to win! We are going to win!"

**-ovo-**

Harry stood by the window at eight o'clock. Waiting. At five past eight he saw a redhead sprinting frantically towards him. Alarmed, Harry raised his wand.

"_Aresto Momentum_!" he shouted before shielding his head with his arms, awaiting impact. When nothing happened he peeked between his fingers. Ginny was frozen mid step, glaring at him fiercely. "Woops" Harry muttered. "_Finite_"

Ginny unfroze and walked slowly towards him. "What the bloody hell was that for?"

Harry blinked. "Er, you were going to crash into me, I panicked…" he blushed. "It was just supposed to slow you down; I didn't think it was going to stop you completely. I must've put more force behind it than I thought…"

Ginny snorted. "Until you figure out how to control how much power you are using in your spells, please refrain from pointing your wand at me." Harry nodded.

"So, why did you want to meet me here?" Harry asked, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Stop looking so uncomfortable, I'm not going to ask you to do anything ridiculous. I just thought you might like to fly again."

Harry beamed, but then his face fell. "Umbridge has my broom."

"Yes, but she doesn't have mine."

Harry gaped. "I can borrow your broom?"

Ginny laughed. "Of course. I mean, it's not as good as your Firebolt but it's not bad…" she was cut off by a certain raven haired boy hugging her. Harry let go quickly and started dragging her by the hand over to the Gryffindor tower. She laughed again.

"My broom is in one of the broom closets by the Quidditch pitch."

Harry whirled around and started pulling her along in the other direction. While she didn't mind holding Harry's hand, they would get there a lot faster if he stopped holding on to her. So Ginny pulled her hand free and took of running. "Race you!" She bolted down the corridor with Harry hot on her heels.

**-ovo-**

The next morning dawned bright as Harry groggily made his way down to the Great Hall. He sat at the far end of the Gryffindor table with Hermione, Ron and Ginny as he told them what he and Dumbledore had talked about in his office, save for the Horcruxes. He saved that conversation for later.

"You really are getting much more powerful Harry." Hermione commented, a slight twinge of jealousy coloring her tone. She was poking at her food with her fork and looking rather sullen.

Ginny huffed. "Oh grow up Hermione, you have no business being jealous of Harry. No matter what, you are still the brightest witch our age." Hermione smiled at this.

"Yeah 'Mione, you are like a walking, talking reference book." Ron said, throwing his arm around her shoulders. She shrugged it off and glared at him. "So that's all I am to you? A reference book?" she stood up briskly and stormed off, her bushy hair whipping about behind her.

Ron winced, "I didn't mean it like that! Hermione? Hermione!" He ran off after her.

"That," Harry muttered, "is getting really old, _really_ fast."

Ginny laughed.

"So tell me, what's really bothering you?" she inquired as Harry drank a large sip of pumpkin juice.

Harry choked and Ginny rubbed his back as he fought to regain use of his lungs. When he could breath normally once again, he glared at her. She ignored his anger and wiped some juice off his chin with a napkin. "I'm having weird dreams," Harry grudgingly admitted after a while. "I keep dreaming about a door. But the door never opens. And in the dream, I'm desperate to see what's behind it. It's like an obsession."

Ginny was silent, listening intently.

"It keeps coming back, the dream I mean, and it doesn't even feel like it's mine. I'll be dreaming about something else, usually something stupid, and then this one will take its place. And this one will feel so _real_."

"Sometimes," Ginny mused, "the simplest answer is the right one. If you don't think it's your dream, then maybe it isn't. And if it feels unusually real, then maybe it is real. It sounds unlikely, I wont pretend it doesn't, but then again… not many things that happen in this castle are ever very likely are they?"

Harry blinked. "You did it again."

"What?"

"Made me feel better."

"Well, you're welcome" Ginny winked and stood up. "We should go. Classes start soon and you can't afford to miss anything, what with your OWL's drawing nearer." The walked out of the Great Hall together surrounded by other students yet deeply immersed in their own bubble.

"You're starting to sound like Hermione! The OWL's are _ages_ away, it's not even Christmas yet."

Ginny shoved him lightly with her shoulder. "Maybe not. But it sure is starting to look like it." She motioned to a window.

The snow was falling hard and fast around Hogwarts and the sky was a dull, angsty grey. The sight did not have the warm and cozy feeling of Christmas, but rather the cold biting feel of sorrow.

"Yeah, it really gives you a sense of Christmas spirit doesn't it?" Harry commented.

"There is a storm brewing, and we better be ready when it hits." Luna Lovegood had at some point wandered up to them. She was wearing her odd cork necklace and had her wand placed behind her ear.

"Harry. We really need to talk. Ginny, why don't you come to?"

Harry followed Luna who started walking away and turned to give Ginny a confused look. But Ginny wasn't there. Startled, Harry turned around, looking for her; he found her sitting on the cold floor wearing a sour expression. Harry tried not to laugh.

"Did you just fall?"

Ginny sniffed. "No, I just attacked the floor."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Backwards?"

"Yes. I'm just that talented." Ginny quickly picked herself up and brushed past Harry with her head held high. Harry snickered and followed.


	6. Luna said you'd be a little confused

**Luna said you'd be a little confused. Not completely retarded.**

Ginny was aware that Luna was talking. She could see Luna's lips move and she could hear Luna's voice. But her brain wasn't quite able to make sense of it all. The three of them, Ginny, Luna and Harry, were sitting in the Room of Requirement. Luna had a stone basin in her lap. She was telling them about traveling back in time and Harry was nodding along as if it made sense. Ginny didn't agree. Nothing of what Luna was saying made sense.

Luna then used her wand to draw out silvery strands from the stone basin in her lap and sort of flung them into Harry's left ear. After about five minutes of that her eyes turned all swirly and then Harry sort of zoned out before he collapsed and lay in a heap on the floor and Luna started humming a Christmas carol.

"Luna?"

"Yes Ginny?"

"Um… What the hell just happened?"

**-ovo-**

Ginny huffed. "Okay, so let me get this straight. You are from the future, or some sort of alternative reality. You've been "helping" Harry all summer by teaching him magic; you have been altering his memories since first year, using a pensive that does not display memories like a regular one does, but it actually extracts them completely; you've already explained all this to Dumbledore and now you just gave Harry all his memories at once causing him to pass out." She eyed Harry who was drooling on the ground and conjured a pillow for him, stuffing it unceremoniously under his cheek. "But you couldn't have been teaching Harry magic. There is a law about underage magic."

Luna beamed. "Well, during Harry's first year I studied runes. I found some that hid any magic that occurred within their perimeters. Quite convenient really."

Ginny yawned. It had taken Luna a few hours to explain everything and now she was thoroughly exhausted. "I don't get it though, why are you telling me this?"

"I'm playing matchmaker. I figured that when Harry wakes up, you too would have some sort of epic bonding moment and fall in love."

Ginny frowned. "But I don't fancy Harry. We're friends."

"Oh. Shit. I guess it was sixth year that you guys fell in love." Luna said.

Ginny chose to ignore that piece of information. "You aren't anything at all like the Luna I know. You sound so… erm, normal. And you curse a lot."

"Yes, well, it's hard to stay blissfully nutters when you see someone get ripped into shreds right in front of you, especially when they're stuck in a time loop. So you see it, over, and over, and over again."

Ginny gasped, horrifed. "Did that happen to you?"

"Well, no. But I imagine it would be awful."

Ginny scowled. "Well then why are you so unlike the Luna I know?"

"Because every time I hypnotize someone, a part of his or her personality gets absorbed into me. I probably have the most bland and normal personality ever by now."

"I gather you've hypnotized a lot of people then."

Luna laughed at that. "Oh Ginny, you have no idea."

They sat in silence for a while. Ginny yawned again.

"Even though you say you don't fancy Harry, he might be in love with you when he wakes up."

Ginny choked mid yawn. "Why?"

Luna grinned evilly as Ginny continued to choke on air.

"Well, I've been dropping not so subtle hints during my summers with him. It was great fun really." Luna giggled. "It wasn't so easy though, what with the singing valentine thing. That was apparently really traumatizing for Harry. Rather cute, isn't he?"

Ginny spluttered. "But that's so manipulative! Won't he be upset? And you can't talk somebody into liking somebody. Did you hypnotize him?"

Luna frowned. "You can't create real feelings that weren't there to start with. He didn't fancy you at all until he started talking to you. I merely made him intrigued. I gave him the match. He started the fire. And I would never hypnotize Harry, after all the time we've spent together… well, he's practically my little brother!"

"You're younger than him. Technically."

Luna huffed. "Whatever."

Ginny glared. "I still think it was manipulative."

"Yes it was. But honestly, people manipulate each other all the time. It's not like I forced him to do anything. I just talked about how wonderful you are; made him realize that although he pegged you for a fangirl, he didn't actually know you. I didn't lie. I didn't withhold any information. Not like Dumbledore."

"Hey!" Ginny exclaimed, feeling her temper rising. "Dumbledore is brilliant. He's the greatest wizard alive."

"He holds his cards too close to his chest. Life is a poker game to him and he has the best pokerface in the world."

"Who is she?"

Luna blinked. "You lost me. That's never happened before. Shit."

Ginny gaped at the utter panic in Luna's voice. "I- erm, ... You said, 'poke-her-face'. Who is 'her'?"

Luna placed a hand on her heart and breath a sigh of relief. "Thank god. _I_ lost _you_. I've still got it!

"Who. Is. She?" Ginny said, her frustration growing with every new sentence added to the exceedingly weird conversation.

"Dumbledore's lover."

"Ew."

"Just messing with you. There is no she. 'Pokerface' is a facial expression. The expression one has when you don't have an expression. It's very useful in the game Poker."

"I liked you better before you messed up your personality by hypnotizing people."

"Yeah. I get that a lot."

**-ovo-**

Harry woke up on the floor of the Room of Requirement, more confused than he had ever been in his life. "I know how to apparate." He smiled. "I'm brilliant at transfiguration. Charms is easy. I can duel. And I, -bloody hell." Harry's voice took on a horrified tone. "I've read Hogwarts: A History."

"Good for you." Ginny commented. She was reading a book about a flock of flying unicorns, very boring stuff.

"_Ginny._" Harry said. "You are _awesome_."

Ginny snorted.

"I feel really powerful." Harry commented.

"That's great."

"I want to kill Voldemort."

"Okay,"

"He's immortal."

"Well, that'll make it complicated I guess."

"Let's get married"

"Luna said you'd be a little confused. Not completely retarded."

"HEY!"

"Get over it."

Harry rolled his eyes and went back to sleep.

Luna chose that moment to make herself heard, "Are you unhappy?"

Ginny frowned. "No..?"

"Yes, yes you are. Why?"

Ginny huffed. (She'd been doing that a lot lately.) "Fine, so I'm not chipper. But Umbridge is being a foul toad and Harry is losing his mind and Voldemort is back. There is probably going to be a war and" Ginny swallowed. "Harry and my family, we're all so deeply involved, someone could die."

"Fred died. Remus Lupin died. Nymphadora Tonks died. Colin Creevy died. Hagrid died. Dumbledore died. Sirius Black died. But Harry was victorious." Ginny looked stricken, but Luna continued. "The battle was quite epic you know. Harry started it all by throwing a shield charm on your mother I believe. Or it might have been you. It's all a little fuzzy now. It was weird standing in the crowd. We had all always looked up to Harry of course, and he's always been a leader, but this was so heroic, it was so big. Harry talked, taunted Voldemort, before killing him with an Expelliarmus. We watched, held our breath." Luna gazed off into nothing, seeing things that Ginny could not. "Don't ever underestimate the guy currently drooling on the floor. He died for all of us. And then he came back."

Ginny was silent.

"Imagine being hated as a kid. It's probably a ridiculous concept for a child of Molly's. But still, try to imagine. Think what it would be like to find out that strangers loved you, for something you didn't remember, something you secretly wished hadn't even happened because it had ripped away a life that could have been happier, warmer. An ugly thought isn't it? Imagine finding someone who was like both a father and a brother to you, learning to love him, before seeing him die in front of you." Luna's voice was fierce. "Imagine watching a classmate die at the hands of your enemy, for the sole reason of being too close to you, too close to danger. Imagine the guilt. I could never handle it without turning bitter." Luna's voice softened. "Harry is so strong. It's- it's unbelievable really. Those people I mentioned earlier will not die Ginny. Not this time. So, yeah."

"Luna, you're not supposed to end a heartfelt speech with 'so, yeah.'"

"I ran out of momentum. Speeches are hard."

"Er, guys?" Harry said, only just waking up.

"Oh thank god, he's back to normal." Ginny muttered. "Can we please leave this room now? I don't even know why we spent so much time here in the first place. And why was Harry sleeping on the floor when he could've wished for a bed? And wouldn't someone have come looking for us by now? This makes no sense."

"An excellent deduction Holmes." Luna replied, dusting herself off before leaving.

"Why did she call me 'Holmes'?" Ginny muttered.

"Is no one going to comment on the fact that I have four summers worth of skills now?"

"No. Go read Hogwarts: A History again."

Harry laughed and walked out of the room, leaving Ginny to ponder all that had transpired. After a moment she concluded that she was in desperate need of a headache remedy. "Hogwarts has always been weird. But this is just ridiculous." Ginny muttered, closing the door behind her.

**-ovo-**

"So, long story short, Luna was randomly sent back in time and ended up in my bedroom at Privet Drive. She started reading my textbooks with me, talking to me about magic and just generally taking care of me. Before my first year she fixed my memories so I wouldn't remember her and then she took of to America where she researched Runes and other types of magic. During the summer before my second year she had figured out how to create an area within the Blood Protection of Privet Drive were we could do magic without the Ministry finding out. Before you ask Hermione, no I don't know how she did that, ask her."

Harry took a deep breath.

"This continued for two more summers during which she taught me to cast spells silently, apparate and lots and lots about transfiguration, hoping to make it easier for me to become an Animagus later on. Apparently Luna knows how to hypnotize people by the way, cool huh?"

Ron sneezed.

"An interesting fact, when you confine magic in a small area like Luna and I did without "airing" the area out, the magic gets sucked back into you. So that's why I've been experiencing so much accidental magic. I'm really powerful now. Anyway, where was I? Oh, so anyway then a while ago Luna cornered me in school, but the other Luna interrupted us. Then the old Luna got sucked into regular Luna's ear and they both merged into one. Then Luna took Ginny and I into the Room of Requirement and gave me all my memories back, she told me about everything and then I passed out while my brain processed all the memories. The great thing though, is that I know I can kill Voldemort. I've done it before! It's just like when I saw myself fight the dementors is my third year."

"And that was long story short, mate?"'

"Er, yeah."

Hermione tapped her chin. "So what now?"

Harry smirked. "Well, Luna took care of almost all the Horcruxes. I just have to take care of the one in my scar and his snake. Then I have to duel Dumbledore and win and then let Voldemort take Dumbledores wand. Then I have to kill Voldemort. After that, well… I guess it would be about time for sixth year. We can probably spend that year fighting for unity between different houses."

Hermione looked bemused. "This seems very anticlimactic."

Harry shrugged. "It's going to be pretty epic actually. For what Luna's told me, I have to die first. Apparently I'll be the boy-who-lived, twice."

Ron rubbed his hands together. "So let's get started."

**-ovo-**

Harry cleared his throat as he surveyed the DA members. They were all staring back at him, although one or two were staring at Luna, who was hovering slightly behind him, as she always was these days. She was like a persistent shadow that liked to randomly slip memories into his ear. Just that morning at breakfast he had learnt that he could conjure a small pyramid, roughly the size of a minivan. Why he would ever find such a skill useful, Harry did not know, but it was still pretty cool.

"I wonder if you know what you are up against." Harry said to the teenagers before him. "What are you fighting for?"

There was a beat of silence.

"You-know-who. Like, duh. And we are fighting because it's the right thing to do. We need to know how to defend ourselves against Death Eaters." The Hufflepuff who had spoken popped her chewing gum, the Ravenclaw next to her sniffed at her.

Harry scrunched his brow. "Well, yes. But no, no not at all." Neville looked confused. He wasn't alone. "Look, how many of you are purebloods?" Three people raised their hands. "Why are you fighting? Voldemort doesn't want to kill you?"

"I just want to pass my Defence OWLs" one of them said nervously.

Luna tried to suppress her snigger, she really did. "Look Harry," she whispered. "Maybe today isn't the day for this speech, your heart isn't in it."

Harry glared at her. "Don't you have a useful memory about this that you could give me?"

Luna rolled her eyes. "It's not like we had time to cover_ everything_ during the summers."

Harry simply raised his eyebrow. "Do you or don't you have a memory for me?"

Luna sighed. "Dobby!" Dobby popped into existence. "Yes miss?" Luna smiled at him. "Could you bring me my pensive please?" Dobby nodded vigorously and snapped his fingers, the pensive appearing next to him, suspended in mid air.

Luna grabbed the pensive and poked through it impatiently with her wand, whooping triumphantly as she found the right silver blob. With a smile she flicked the memory up and onwards with her wand. Harry, with his reflexes of steel, caught the memory in his open mouth and swallowed it.

The memory tickled and stung as it made it's way down his esophagus.

Luna cringed. "You aren't supposed to swallow memories Harry."

Harry coughed and spluttered, "I noticed."

He was long used to the dizzying feeling of a memory-rush, as he liked to call it, and he didn't black out anymore as a select moment of his life flashed before his eyes. Luna had only given him the "big" memories the first time and was gradually easing into the "small" ones. According to her, she didn't want to risk overloading his brain to the point of insanity. He didn't know if he should be insulted by her lack of faith in his ability to retain information or if he should be grateful that she hadn't messed him up completely.

It was… disconcerting… for him to suddenly find out so much about his old life. Harry found himself almost thinking of it as someone else's memories. The little boy from his memory who worked hard and was so diligent and determined to learn didn't exactly translate to the lazy laid-back view of studying he had presently. Sometimes, as he pondered some of these memories, he found himself in awe of the raw magical force of the boy in the memories, and then he would spend a large amount of time smirking when he remembered that it was his power, _his _magical force. It boggled him what he was capable of. Vanishing a snail was now easy breezy. Hell, he could vanish a horse!

Luna had explained to him how he had absorbed excess magic from within the ward they had practiced spells in. Harry didn't understand it fully, but then again, he didn't really understand how Luna had gone back in time in the first place. There were lots of things Harry did not understand, but magic was no longer one of those things.

The months he had spent sucking up magic like a sponge had made him very in tune to it. Luna had said that all the accidental magic he had been experiencing was due to all the pressure that had built up when he no longer rid himself of excess magic through training. The memory Luna had slipped him now was of a conversation between them after his second year. It was about prejudice, Tom Riddle, and power. Harry smiled as the beginnings of a long rant built up inside of him. He turned to the Hufflepuff with the gum.

"Wrong" he said. "You are utterly wrong."

The room was silent as all the members gave him their attention.

"Those against us, those fighting us, those trying to kill us, they believe that pure blood should mean something. They believe that magic is sacred and that it shouldn't be diluted. They are scared that the closer we grown to the muggle community, the more our traditions and values will be lost, and the more likely it will be that our world is exposed and taken advantage of." He let this wash over those who were listening.

"And yet, they are stupid and senseless. A leader who does not even fit their mold has taken advantage of them. They kill and slaughter without speaking out for what they believe. They haven't even considered that with a skilled tongue and considerable political force they could easily empower their bigotry, intolerance and fear. No, instead they follow Tom Riddle, a half-blood whose sole reason for not liking muggles is based on bitterness over the fact that he grew up as an orphan. Tom Riddle wants power, not pure blood. He wants the world. He can't have it."

Shocked silence followed his speech as members of the DA tried to process what Harry had said.

"So… You Know Who is a halfblood? That's…. unexpected." Terry Boot said.

Harry sighed. "Yes, this whole thing is completely messed up. So, anyway, who wants to learn how to fight off a dementor?"


End file.
